Antiskidding device



Dec. 11 1923.

ANTISKIDDING DEVICE Filed April 5. 1922 Patented Dec. 11, 1923.

PATENTI OFFICE.

., ANTISK-IDDIN G1 DEVICE.

Applieation fileliApril 5,- 1922. Serial No.--549,719.

all. whoin it'may concem: 5 :Be it known that I, N oBILE C. Doss, a citizen' o'f"tlie'Un-ited .States, residing at At lanta; iii-"the county of'Fulton and State of 5 Georgia;haveinvented"certainjnew and use -"ffil' Improvements infintiski'dding Devices,

1 of ,which the following is a .specifioation.

""Theinvention relates to anti-skid devices, and-hasas'anfobjeet the provision of a-device which"will prevent'skidding of auto mobiles. A furtheruobjeot of'the'invention 1; is the-provision'fof a--dev1ce-"which may bereadily;"raised-out of operative j o'sition -"when-its -'servic.e is not required, *urther Y '--"o;bjects* of the-"invention will appear from the following description. iAn illustrative.

embbdi-mentfdfiwthe-inventioi1- is, shownin -thetaccompanylngdraw ngs, 1n$wh1ch 2m shown as -applied to an automobile," which latter is show'n, in" dotted lines; Fig' 2'isadetail-vertical sctiomand Fig. 3- is a-detail'hlorizolital section, the parts being shown inl plan.

v 1A3 shown in Fig. "1", the device is, adapted to be pivotally' secured to 'the rear. axle 10 ofan automobilebutmay 'besecured to any I" "other convenient portionof the rear end" of -t ic yand maivrbe'applied toany ve- 3 0 hicle; upon'twlrich'itsservice is desirable.

--Securedto the elips" 11*which pass abouthethe axleiOthere arzshown a pair of side.

arms 12 which extend; rearwardly' from the :11: axle 10. :Seeui'e'dtbetween the rearends 13 of the arnrSIQ is shown awards 14" which is so formed that abushing lfi-vvi-ll not revolve thereon. .A's shown the axle 14 is square in 140.- configured-t0, nteract therewith va d if means be provided' to prevent: revolution of ,the bushing: 15 thereon.

:i 'skid. v

. lihe 'axle lj i is shownz afs formedupon the -.;a1=c$of a circle;a3t its" central portion 16 and IF? the? plane o f the'circle ofwliiclr' the portion 250516 is an 'aro ijs'fdispos'ed at an angle of: to the =gro1igndextending {downwardly and ior waidl-ygwhenthedvide isin position for I The interior of the bushing 15 is formed upon the arc of a circle so as to make a close fit with the portion 16 of the axle and to be slidable thereon.

, To make-contact with theground a wheel 17 is shown as mounted upon the bushing 15 by means of ball bearings 18 and may be retained thereon by: means of-flangesn19, 20, one of whichinaybe made in a separate piece from the bushing 15, for purposes of assembly.- As. shown the wheel 17 is equipped with a solid tire 21,; preferably-of rubber, but anyother. desirable form of tire which will not readily slide upon the surface of the pavement may be. substituted for the form shown.

vTo return the bushing 15 toitscentrahposition when it is pushed therefrom by at- Fig. is a side 'elevation ofthe device tempts of the vehicle to skid, springs 2223 are shown encircling the axle: 14 and abutting against the. exterior of the flanges 19 and 20. These springs are shown as having their extremities 34'extcnded and contacted with the bushing 15. at a point opposite the convexity of the curved portion of the axle 16 whereby they arezenabled' to -cause the bushing 15 to move on theaxle to the cenztral position. 1 Should theybe allowed to press against the'bushing upon the concave sideof the axle the only result would be=to cause theb'ushing to grip uponvthe axle and not move thereon. V f-To control the position of thedevice in or out of operative position a cable 241 is-shown secured to, eyes 25-7-26 secured to cross bar 27' of the frameof the device, springs 28-29 being interposed in the connection. The cable .24 isshown as passed about pulleys 30-31 beneath the vehicle adjacent the driver s'position, and as being led to a drum 82'which may be controlled bya crank 33.

With the cable arranged as shown, when thei'drurn is revolved lIl7 OI1 direction the device will be raised toitl 'e dotted line positionishown in Fig. land willbe out ofservice, the strength of the spring 29 being suificient to surely lift the weight ofthe-device and hold thesame raised. When the device is to be brought intoloperation, as in the caseof wet streets, the druni32 may-be operated inzth'e reverse direction lowering the device is the. p-round,.' and by continuance of such operation thespring' 28,w1iich is made 14: and compressing one of the springs 22-23. Since the resistance to movement of a rubber tire is considerably greater when it is pulled across a pavement in a position inclined in the direction of movement than when it is perpendicular thereto, the resistance of the tire 21 will be at its maximum to prevent such action of the vehicle. Furthermore the extension of the frame 12 l to the rear will provide a leverage through which the resistance to skidding of the wheel 17 will act upon the rear of the vehicle, causing such resistance to be much greater than would be that of the wheels of the vehicle.

In addition to the resistance of the sliding of the wheel 17, as a deterrent to the skidding, said wheel will, by its movement upon the curved axle, assume a position wherein the plane thereof will be disposed at an angle to the progress of the vehicle, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, in such a direction as to tend to act as a rudder to steer the vehicle back into its desired direction. This position of the wheel will not only cause its action to be in the nature of a rudder, but will also place the same in such a position as to have a maximum resistance to being drawn over the pavement since it will assume a position wherein the plane of the wheel will be substantially perpendicular to such skidding movement and, due to the angle of inclination of the axle, will be inclined to the pavement in the manner in which a squeegee is held for operation. Since the curvature of the axle is at the angle shown, the skidding movement of the vehicle will cause movement of the bushing upon the curved axle, but with the shown relation of the parts, lateral pressure upon the wheel applied posterior to the central vertical plane of the wheel will not cause such movement. Therefore when backing the vehicle to which the device is applied, the wheel 17 will remain in a central position.

When the skidding movement has ceased and the vehicle proceeds upon its true course the spiral springs 2223 will return the wheel to its central position. The action of the device is obviously automatic and it will begin immediately when the first movement of skidding takes place. The means for lowering and for suspending the device out of operation may be that shown, or any other desirable means operable from the drivers seat or not, as preferred,

The sliding action of the wheel 17 will obviously lace downward pressure upon the end 14 of tlie axle toward which the skidding takes place, and thereby twist the frame carrying the wheel in such a manner as to increase the pressure of the wheel of the. vehicle toward which the skidding is tak ng place upon the ground. At the same tune and for the same reason the vehicle wheel having the greatest traction will have its traction decreased by the twisting action of the wheel 17. Since a vehicle will skid to the side upon which the wheel having the least grip upon the ground is located the device provided by the invention will tend to prevent skidding by this increase of pressure, causing a more nearly equal grip of the two wheels of the vehicle upon the ground.

Minor changes may be made in the physical embodiment of the invention wlthout. departing from its spirit.

I claim:

1. An anti-skidding device comprising, in combination, a frame adapted to be piyotally secured to the rear portion of a vehicle, a wheel carried by said frame adapted to contact with the pavement, means whereby said wheel may be controlled to move to a position with its plane at an angle to the forward direction of movement of the vehicle and out of erpendicular to the road surface when ski ding begins.

2. An anti-skidding device comprising, in combination, a frame adapted to be pivotally secured to the rear portion of a vehicle, a wheel carried by said frame adapted to contact with the pavement, a biting edge on said wheel, means whereby said wheel may be controlled to move to a position with its plane at an angle to the forward direction of movement of the vehicle and out of perpendicular to the road surface when skidding begins, whereby to cause said edge to bite the road surface.

3. An anti-skidding device comprising, in combination, a frame adapted to be pivotally mounted upon the rear of the vehicle, an axle carried by said frame, the center of said axle being curved in a plane downwardly and forwardly relative to said vehicle, a wheel mounted upon said axle and slidable thereon, yieldable means to preserve said wheel in a normal central position, whereby skidding ,movement of the vehicle will movesaid wheel into a position wherein its plane will be at an angle to the desired direction of the vehicle and perpendicular to its skidding movement.

4. An anti-skidding device comprising, in combination, a frame adapted to be pivot ally secured to the rear of a vehicle, an axle rigidly secured upon said frame, a curved portion of said axle being formed upon the a e of a circle whose plane is downwardly and forwardly inclined to the pavement, a bushing mounted upon said axle for sliding movement, means to prevent rotation of said bushing upon said axle, a'vvheel revolubly mounted on said bushing, means to resiliently press said Wheel against the pavement, and means to yieldingly preserve said bushing normally in a central position whereby skidding movement of the vehicle Will move the plane of said wheel to an 10 angle to the desired direction of the vehicle such as to tend to restore its proper movement and to cause maximum resistance to sliding of said Wheel.

NOBLE C. DOSS. 

